Where do we get the garden bug from?????

I dont think it comes from our parents, my dad hadan allotmemt but in them days after the war it fed us all, with 8 girls plus my mum my dad had a very big allotmemt, but i'm the youngest of them, and there is only me that likes gardening and i'm in to fowers etc, as for my sons & daughters non of them is in to gardening.

Hi clarence So I stand corrected DonnaThank you for your coments

It's very strange Donnah.
I had little or no interest in gardening until I retired nearly 5 years ago,and now it's a real passion. I've always admired and enjoyed seeing beautiful gardens from all over the world, and many have inspired me.

Like Clarice, my father had an allotment in the 1950s, and he grew fruit and veg, but things were still in short supply after the war and we ate according to what each season had to offer.I remember helping him with all the garden and allotment chores, so something has remained with me after all those years.

The great thing now is that we have access to a huge range of plants from all over the world that we can use in our gardens, and some were considered far too exotic to use in the past.

Also, the garden makeover programmes and 'Gardeners World' on television, along with gardening magazines have all helped to raise public awareness about gardening as well.

It certainly is a very rewarding and creative hobby, and I love every minute of it. There are so many opportunities to learn something new about plants and gardening.

as do I doYou never stop leaning

This is a great blog Donnah, and very thought provoking.
Many thanks, and well done.

Well my Father always had half of the garden set to a veggie patch, and i suppose I grew up watching him although I am the only 1 of the 5 of us chilfren that does love gardening, whether it be flowers or veg. I just remember that as soon as I had my own place, I was always more interested in making the garden look great, and that old thing called housework would have to wait until the weather was bad.......Im now coming up for my 60th same as Grenville, and my hubby says that Im still the same...........Do you think he's trying to tell me something?

My Dad was a keen gardener and had so much knowledge growing veg and tomatoes. My sister was in the house baking with my mum and I was outside shadowing my Dad :-) I've always loved gardening, just wish I could remember everything my Dad taught me :( I just love being outside.

Donnah...BB s father worked in forestry and has had an allotment since the war.My Dad grew all our veggies whilst we were growing up,and we kept chickens and ducks. I (Jane) think it is something to do with childhood memories which seem to become more important as we get older.As the world changes around us ,with advancing technology etc think we feel a need to get back to our roots,to work with nature..just to grow things and nurture them.A very thought provoking blog !

I agree Jane, my Dad kept geese, ducks, pigs, chickens, rabbits, goats, etc. So I guess that's where my love of animals began. Always loved the garden and outdoor life, especially Summer!

It All comes from somewhere in our roots

Thank you Bonkerstone

Great blog Donnah, but I don't think it effects all people the same way. My mother only grew indoor plants and my father NEVER did any gardening. But her mother and his father were both gardeners. My grandmother grew mostly vegetables and fruit with just a few flowers for looks, and my father's dad had a greenhouse which he used to grow flashy seasonal flowers to sell in his stores! Of 4 children I am the only one at all interested in gardens and plants.
I think you just have to have that spark to start with and then you learn from family and friends!

I have no idea if the gardening bug is in the genes or the jeans.
Both sets of grandparents on my side were keen gardeners as was my mother (father interested but had other primary interests). I have been a keen gardener all my life and my son is very interested but, being in the military, keeps moving house every few years so cannot establish a garden. Not sure about the grandchildren yet. Moon Growers father was a very keen gardener as, of course, is Moon Grower.

good question donnah,
both my grandad and dad grew veg , but they had the space to do so. our first two houses had tiny gardens , which i think is the 'norm' nowadays, so it wasn't until we moved to our present house that we had the space to start growing veg and planting up big herbacious borders and shrubs etc.

my parents didn't do gardening... but my grandparents did. i started gardening sixteen years ago when i moved here. i had never gardened before but soon got hooked. our eldest son david now works as a gardener too so it seems its going to run in our family from now on. lol

My maternal grandfather was a gardener, so was my Mum. It has come down to me - and my sister, but NOT to my two 'children', sadly. My husbad's parents both loved gardening, but he doesn't, nor did his brother.

Very strange. When I was a child, our parents gave us three girls (my other sister died a number of years ago) a small area each in the garden, to plant what we wanted. I'm sure that started me off.

Thanks for triggering the memories, Donna.

We had a vegetable garden when I was young , I remember my older brother when he was about 14 cutting the gardening strip out of the newspaper and he had to do everything exactly as it said , he kept all the strips like a book . what was that strip ! was It Mr. Digby ? I always took a great interest in what he was doing and had a tiny square where I was allowed to grow things like radishes , they were usually eaten before they reached the kitchen
He had a weekend job gardening at the local rectory .untill he left school .....

One of my earliest memories is of my maternal grandfather on his knees in his little patch of garden at the back of their terrace house he was an inspiration, also my mother is a great lover of plants and she used to take us into the countryside and name all the wild flowers she is 82 this year and still gardening although her knee lets her down now but she is very greenfingered! i am the only one of 3 girls (girls well middle aged women LOL) who is interested to a greater extent.
I have traced my family tree as mentioned in one of my blogs and they were all farmers and land workers on my mothers side, my fathers side were salt workers (from Cheshire) but i remember my paternal grandfather on his allotment, so i think its in my blood certainly, fascinating to read how we all got into gardening great blog Donnah!!

Neither of my parents like gardening much, although when I was small my father gave me my own little patch in the garden to do as I pleased. My father only grew rows of vegetables because everyone else did. He didn't enjoy it.

His mother ( my Gran ) loved the garden. She always used to buy me plants.
One of my mother's grans ( my great-grandmother ) also did although I don't remember her.

I think my love of gardening comes from my Grandfather. He loved to be out digging and had quite a green thumb. He was the only one in the family that I knew of that enjoyed it.
I think certain things can certainly be "in the blood". I've always grown up as a city girl. Never knew anything else until 2000 when I went to live on the farm. I took to it like a duck to water and felt somehow that this was where I belonged. All my ancestors on my Dad's side were farmers and about 1/2 on my Mum's side. I think that there is definitely something to it being in your genes.

Hmmm good question Donnah..I'm inclined to think it's in the genes. My grandmother (father's side) loved gardening, my mum loves gardening and so does my elder sis. For me, I loved gardening when I was a kid, but it disappeared after we shifted to a flat. Then I got married and had my own apartment in 2003, I resumed gardening at my planters and balcony.